The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story about a man named Jay Gatsby. Nick Carraway, another main character, communicates Gatsby’s story and his own journey to the eggs of Long Island Sound to the reader. In addition to being a main character, Nick is also the narrator of the novel. As he takes the reader through the time he spends on the east coast, the true qualities of his character along with his performance as a narrator are revealed. Multiple critics have condemned Nick with various crimes ranging from dishonesty to unreliability. On the contrary, critics compared to Samuels lean further toward applauding Nick for his creation of the novel. His imperfections affect the outcome of the novel, complement each other nicely, play
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Not only does Nick struggle to maintain his cardinal virtue of honesty within his portrayal of the novel, but he also struggles to remain reliable. In the idea that Nick is unreliable, his dishonesty factors into this most prominently. In continuation, “[throughout] the whole novel, only Nick sees,” and the portrayal of characters is simply Nick’s valuation of them (Samuels). With his characterization as dishonest, the reader cannot trust what Nick portrays. So, in a sense, “Nick is writing a book” as he communicates what happens in the novel to the reader (Samuels). The reader gets what Nick communicates, and as the novel continues, the reader struggles to keep up with his communication as he drones on here and there in particularly vital sections to the novel. For example, Nick says, “Reading over what I have written so far, I see I have given the impression that the events of three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me. On the contrary, they were merely casual events in a crowded summer” (Fitzgerald 55). In this quote, Nick, without saying it, admits his unreliability to the reader and bolsters the betrayal of his cardinal virtue of honesty. Both his dishonesty and his unreliability further affect the novel as a
Not only does Nick struggle to maintain his cardinal virtue of honesty within his portrayal of the novel, but he also struggles to remain reliable. In the idea that Nick is unreliable, his dishonesty factors into this most prominently. In continuation, “[throughout] the whole novel, only Nick sees,” and the portrayal of characters is simply Nick’s valuation of them (Samuels). With his characterization as dishonest, the reader cannot trust what Nick portrays. So, in a sense, “Nick is writing a book” as he communicates what happens in the novel to the reader (Samuels). The reader gets what Nick communicates, and as the novel continues, the reader struggles to keep up with his communication as he drones on here and there in particularly vital sections to the novel. For example, Nick says, “Reading over what I have written so far, I see I have given the impression that the events of three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me. On the contrary, they were merely casual events in a crowded summer” (Fitzgerald 55). In this quote, Nick, without saying it, admits his unreliability to the reader and bolsters the betrayal of his cardinal virtue of honesty. Both his dishonesty and his unreliability further affect the novel as a